The Seventh Premise

 

 

Exaggeration causes disorder. That is, it is characteristic of human beings that, since they tend to magnify the pleasure they receive from something, inflate what they are describing, and use exaggeration in their narratives, they mix reality with the imagination. Even if one intends to do good, to act in this way is in fact doing an evil or harmful thing. What they call reform becomes deforming, and what they consider as good and praiseworthy is in fact evil and disparaging. Such behavior unknowingly destroys the beauty that arises from balance and proportion. Just as taking a higher dose of medicine than is required simply because it tastes good or makes one feel good turns something that is beneficial into something harmful, exaggeration intended to encourage or discourage, despite the fact that the truth does not require this—for example, regarding backbiting as being as sinful as murder, or urination while standing as great a sin as unlawful sex, or deeming a few dollars of charity as meritorious as carrying out pilgrimage, in fact means that the crimes of murder and unlawful sex have lost some of their gravity and pilgrimage has been degraded. For this reason, a preacher should be wise and judicious and exercise reasonableness. Preachers devoid of these qualities have caused many religious truths to be sullied. For instance, the additional reports concerning the Prophet’s miracle of splitting the moon16 that one part of the moon descended into his pocket only darken this dazzling miracle, which is as bright as the sun in proving Muhammad’s Prophethood, and provide arguments to those who deny that it occurred.

In short, whoever loves the Religion and truth should be content with the original value and proportion of everything and not go beyond that through exaggeration. Such exaggeration means slandering the Divine Power and being discontent with the beauty and perfection that exists in creation; such behavior led Imam al-Ghazali17 to say, “It is not probable that there could be a universe more beautiful than the present one.”

O my readers! A parable or comparison sometimes serves the same purpose as evidence. If so, listen! Just as each of the metals, like diamond, gold, silver, lead, and iron has a value and characteristic particular to itself and just as each is different from the others, in the same way the basic purposes the Religion pursues are not identical with one another in value or in the requirement of evidence. While one of them finds a place for itself in the mind, the other finds a place in the conscience, while still another nestles in the innermost faculties of the human being. One who pays a diamond or a piece of gold for something worth ten cents is judged to be a foolish profligate and banned from trade. Even if this is not a formal legal judgment, such a person is reproached and regarded  as a silly dreamer instead of being respected  as a wise trader. In the same way, those who cannot distinguish between the religious truths or assign to each its value and proportion, and those who cannot recognize the stamp of the Shari‘a on all of its rules and decrees, those who impede the movement of every part in that magnificent, heavenly factory, resemble a naïve person who goes to a huge, marvelously well-organized factory and sees there a tiny wheel. To his superficial view this tiny wheel seems to be out of keeping with the great wheels; it cannot possibly be as important or vital. He not only has no knowledge of mechanical engineering, he is also very conceited. In order to improve the workings of the factory, according to his superficial view, he replaces that tiny wheel with something more imposing. But the result is that he destroys the delicate working balance in the factory, causing great harm.

In short, on every rule and decree of the Shari‘a there is a stamp of value particular to it, which has been placed there by the One Who established the Shari‘a. This stamp should be read carefully. Each of those rules and decrees, the value of which is exhibited by the stamp, is far beyond needing any additional value to be given to it. It is also far removed from needing any exaggerated descriptions by those who are fond of exaggeration and verbosity, who think that they are making them valuable. Such people should be careful about how ugly they appear in the sight of the truth. A person of that kind once uttered a monstrous thing to a group of people—with the intention of discouraging drinking alcohol—but I am embarrassed even to write about it. Such people should know that they do the Shari‘a great harm by such actions. Even if they mean to acts as friends of the Shari‘a, they can at best be regarded  as foolish friends, and such people may be much more harmful to the Shari‘a than its enemies.

 

CONCLUSION

O unfair ones who are outside the fold of Islam and attempt to criticize it from afar! Do not be deceived, use your reason, and do not be content with superficial views. Those who provide you with pretexts to criticize Islam are called evil scholars in the language of the Shari‘a. Look beyond the veil they have formed with their imbalance and self-restriction to the outer aspect of the Religion and the literal meaning of the Qur’an and the Traditions. You will see that every truth of Islam is as bright as a shining star and that it is self-evident. Such truths bear the stamp of eternity. This is so because the Shari‘a comes from the Eternal Speech of God—eternal in the past and eternal in the future. But unfortunately, factors such as egotism, self-centeredness, the inability to comprehend the truth, and seeing oneself as infallible, cause people to blame their own faults on others. They wish to show themselves as blameless by ascribing their words or acts that are likely to be incorrect to a renowned person or an accredited book or even to the Religion or a Prophetic Tradition or, finally, to Divine Destiny. God forbid such attitudes! Darkness does not emerge from light. Even if a person conceals the stars in their own mirror, they cannot hide the stars in the sky. They can only hide the stars from themselves.

O you who oppose Islam! Like a child who tries to find an excuse for crying or a vengeful enemy who wants to take revenge, it is horribly unfair to try to stain Islam with the negative results that emerge in opposition to the Shari‘a and the doubts that arise from misunderstanding. For it is almost impossible that every attribute and act of a Muslim can arise from Islam. (Everyone may be at fault and no religion should be blamed because of the wrongs some of its followers do.)

 

Said Nursi

16 Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, split the moon by a gesture of his index finger as a miracle he worked before a group of people who rejected his Prophethood in Mecca. It was related by the most authentic Hadith sources such as Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, and Sunan at-Tirmidhi. The verses, The Last Hour has drawn near, and the moon has split. Whenever they see a miracle, they turn from it in aversion and say: “This is sorcery like many others, one after the other.” (54:1-2) refer to this miracle. For a discussion about this miracle, see, Ali Ünal, The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, The Light, New Jersey, 2008, pp. 10821083. (Trans.)

17 Imam al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid Muhammad (d. 1111): A major theologian, jurist, and sage who was considered a reviver (of the religious sciences and Islam’s purity and vitality) during his time. Known in Europe as Algazel, he was the architect of Islam’s later development. He left behind many books, the most famous being Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (“Reviving the Religious Sciences”). (Trans.)